RANE DJ

the evolution isn’t over!

FULL NAME
Rane Corporation

ESTABLISHED
1981

FOUNDED
Washington, USA

PRODUCTS
Mixers, Controllers, Accessories

Brand Story

RANE Corporation, founded and incorporated in 1981 in Washington State, is a privately held company. The original owners previously worked together in middle management positions at Phase Linear Corporation, a high-end consumer electronics company. With this background, they pooled over 40 years of combined audio experience to create RANE Corporation. The owners became separate department heads based upon their expertise. This organization created an unusually strong structure, since all department heads had a unique owner’s perspective in making it succeed.

DJ

RANE first entered the DJ mixer market upon request from Richard Long of Richard Long & Associates (RLA). Richard Long was a famous sound designer for the biggest names in disco. He designed systems for Studio 54, Annabels (London), Regines (a chain of 19 clubs scattered around the world from Paris and New York to Cairo) and many others that were the vanguard of the disco era. Based on his successful relationship with RANE, he persuaded them to research the DJ mixer market. They did and produced their first DJ mixer, the MP24 which rapidly became the industry standard at the time.

TURNTABILISM

The RANE product designers joined a handful of the city’s top scratch performers where they literally spread their ideas on the floor of Wiz’s apartment in Spanish Harlem and went to work. Thus, began the anatomy of the TTM 54 Performance mixer. For three days, they enjoyed the company of Rolly Roll, Development, DJ Big Wiz, Sugarcuts, Marz1 and Peter Parker. They watched performances by DJ Quest, The Crash Dummies, The X-Men and many more. During their stay, they defined every detail of the mixer: features, control locations, knob size and feel, as well as fader feel and much more. Collectively, they created RANE’s first hip-hop battle mixer, which became one of the most successful products in RANE’s history.

PRESENT DAY

The rapid evolution of DJ mixing is absolutely mind-boggling. When RANE began, they never imagined how huge the world of music mixing would become. Disco clubs of the 70s and 80s featured basic blending. Now the genres, techniques and methods have exploded into endless possibilities. The mixer is no longer just a tool, but instead, has become a musical instrument, a vehicle for self-expression. Applications for DJ mixers have gone far beyond what was originally envisioned. There may soon be as many styles of DJ mixers as there are types of guitars. The evolution isn’t over! New mixing styles continue to develop, leading to new demands on both performance and features. The lessons RANE learned in the beginning have served them well during this rapid evolution.